


An Old Friend

by RiddleRedCoats



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: #SOMEregrets, #noregrets, After the Atlantis ending, Angst, F/F, Guess I'm jumping on this ship, Spoilers, this shit wouldn't leave my head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 22:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17733950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiddleRedCoats/pseuds/RiddleRedCoats
Summary: SPOILERS for the game - the summary has spoilers, please guys don't spoil yourselves.After Kassandra's death, Layla goes back in the animus for a short time, only to be pulled out of the machine to loud screams echoing at the entrance to Atlantis. Little did she know that the surprised of the day wouldn't end there.****As she turns she is surprised to find three more people in the room, instead of the two she had been expecting. Alannah was there, she was the one doing most of the screaming and gesturing wildly. Then, a few paces from her Kiyoshi was merely observing although his gaze never left the third and most surprising person in the room.Aspasia was there.





	An Old Friend

Layla emerged from the _Animus_ to the sounds of shouts coming from all sorts of directions. She winced as the bright light from the beams swarmed her blurred vision and made her headache three times worse than it already was.

She rose from the machine only to stumble as her legs refused to obey her, she fell to her knees and as her stomach swirled inside of her, she bent over and promptly lost what little lunch she had consumed God knew how many hours ago. She feels a hand delicately rubbing her back and holding her hair in place.

“Layla,” Victoria’s accent, whispered directly into her ear, calmed her almost instantly, “Breathe, darling. Breathe.” Layla nods, and takes in deep gulps of air, trying to regain her breathing after the rollercoaster she had just gone through.   

“What are you doing here?” Layla whispers back, afraid to speak too loudly just in case the remaining contents of her stomach want to see the light of day again.

“We detected someone down here. Someone other than you and Kassandra. We rushed here as soon as we could when you wouldn’t answer.”

Layla nods and tries to rise but fails, soon enough Victoria swings her arm around her to help her rise and keep her upright. Layla then, with Victoria’s arms still around her, finally turns to where the shouting is coming from – from the direction where Kassandra’s body surely still lays.

As she turns she is surprised to find three more people in the room, instead of the two she had been expecting. Alannah was there, she was the one doing most of the screaming and gesturing wildly. Then, a few paces from her Kiyoshi was merely observing although his gaze never left the third and most surprising person in the room.

Aspasia was there.

She was there sitting on the cold, damp floor of that cave, Kassandra’s head in her lap. Layla could only watch as Aspasia caressed Kassandra’s cheek and now-grey hair, seemingly unaware – and uncaring – of the other people in the room. Or the gun pointed in her direction.

“She’s saying she’s Aspasia!”  Alannah shouted, her gun still pointed in Aspasia’s direction, “ ** _The_** Aspasia. The wife of Pericles. Please!” Alannah gestures wildly, “As if I’d ever believe her.”

Kiyoshi for his part still sat calmly on a broken column, though his gaze never left either woman. He appeared calm, but the tension in his shoulders gave way his readiness to attack the kneeling woman if necessary.

“It’s her.” Layla rasps out, as soon as she’s able. Victoria’s arms were still around her, keeping her grounded and upright, she offered the blonde a smile of thanks, before letting go and standing on her own, “I recognize her.”

“Hmm…” the woman still sitting on the floor with Kassandra’s head on her lap, hummed, “I wasn’t actually his wife, you know.”

She spoke to Alannah without even sparing a look at her. Kassandra seemed to be the only thing worthy of her attention right now. Not that Layla blamed her. If Aspasia was here, then Kassandra had told her about Atlantis. If Aspasia was here, then she and Kassandra must have met again after that mess beneath the _Pythia_ ’s temple. If Aspasia was here, then… Layla wondered if anything had ever come out of that kiss.

Of course, that Layla wasn’t even sure exactly **_how_** was Aspasia alive, but she seemed exactly the same. The same dark eyes, the same dark wavy hair framing her aristocratic face, the same pouty red lips, the same nose, the same no-nonsense attitude, the same regal bearing, the same… everything. Still, if Layla looked deeper she could see the pain irradiating off the former Athenian leader, she could see the torment in the eyes that never left Kassandra’s prone body, she could see how much softer she was and yet how many– metaphorical – scars the centuries had left on her… It was disconcerting to see both women out of the _Animus_ , it made them even more real. It made them **_people_** , and not just things they had to get over to get to their Isu artifact.

“Hello, Layla.” Aspasia’s commanding voice echoed in that ancient place.

“Aspasia.” Layla nods at her with confidence she does not feel. Aspasia of Miletus knew her name… That was something Layla didn’t know if she’d ever be able to shake. It felt incredible and yet…“Did Kassandra tell you about me?”

Aspasia finally lifted her eyes from Kassandra to look right into Layla’s. The Assassin feels a chill run down her spine at the cold tone in them, so different from the way she had looked at Kassandra while Layla had been in the _Animus._ Still, it was better – more human, even – than the borderline animal despair she had seen when Aspasia had been looking at Kassandra’s body.

“You have questions, I assume.”

Layla contained a snort. Of course, she had questions. Aspasia of Miletus was standing right there in front of her. Twenty-five-hundred years after her supposed death. Twenty-five-hundred years after being the leader of an organization that would give rise to the Templars. Twenty-five-hundred years after being right in the middle of the beginning of this hidden war that shaped countries, changed history, and killed millions. 

“Almost from the moment after being in that cave beneath the Oracle of Delphi.” Aspasia and Layla exchange charged looks as the only two people who knew exactly what had gone down in that place, “The artifacts don’t work on _non-hybrids_ the same way they do on _hybrids._ So how did the pyramid react to you? How are you alive?”

Aspasia cursed, “Typical,” then quietly to herself, “Leaving all the talking to me, Kassandra? We’ve talked about this…” She takes a deep breath before speaking loudly, “True, Kassandra’s the daughter of two _hybrids_. She’s almost full _hybrid_ … It makes her almost divine. A Goddess among men, really.” Aspasia’s lips twitch with a ghost of a smile, “I’m much more mundane. My grandmother was a _hybrid,_ but her husband was not. My father then married my very normal mother. I’m half-of-a-half of a _hybrid,_ that’s why the objects lightly respond to me, but I have none of Kassandra’s gifs as far as we could tell.”

“So, you have been alive this whole time?”

“Yes. Both of us have. Looking for someone who would combine order and chaos. And by the Gods, there have been many…”

“Alexander the Great?” Victoria wondered.

“Ah, dear Alexander was as close to me as a son. He could have been the one, but he always needed people to push him. When his lover died, Alexander just… lost all the spark he had. He died a few months after Hephaestion’s death.”

 “Cleopatra?” Kiyoshi wondered. He’d always loved the last of Egypt’s Pharaoh.

“She needed a little push to kill her brother/husband.” Aspasia smirks, “But the plan was all hers. She did always throw the most incredible parties.”

“Queen Elizabeth I?”

“Not me… Although Kassandra might have something to do with it, she was always a little cryptic around Elizabeth.”

“Trump?” Alannah can’t resist asking.

Aspasia snorts, “You’re on your own on that one.”

“Knew it,” Alannah mutters under her breath.

“The Templars?” Layla acidly asks.

The other people in the room look at their leader with wide eyes, while Aspasia passively awaits the reaction of the others at the revelation Layla is about to unveil.

“Why would she be involved with-…” Victoria gasps, “She’s the Ghost of Kosmos?”

Layla’s silence and Aspasia’s resolute stare are answer enough for all of them. Alannah and Kiyoshi quickly raise their guns at Aspasia again, who barely even raises her eyebrow at the sudden action.

“Well?” Layla asks, her eyes hard at the woman who might have set everything in motion.

“No. I did not create the Templars.” The guns are still trained on her, “I didn’t. When the Order of Ancients found out of my lineage they-…” Aspasia coughs, and strokes the head still in her lap, “Well, let us say, I am lucky Kassandra was always such a forgiving soul. After that, I stayed with Kassandra for a while. Next thing we know, we’re in the middle of Cleopatra’s reign, the Hidden Ones are being created and everything spiraled out of control after that....”

Layla had never known Aspasia to be a liar. Hidden things? Sure. Manipulate the hell out everyone? Yes. Outright lie? No. Besides, Layla couldn’t see why she would be lying. Not while she still sat on that wet floor caressing Kassandra’s grey hair as if she couldn’t bear the thought of being away from her.

“Corruption is everywhere Layla, you know that,” Aspasia explains, her voice sounding tired even to Layla’s ears. “I-… ** _We_** tried to stop it so many times only to see it rise up again and again. Sometimes in the Templars, sometimes in the Assassins. We worked for both along the centuries, without ever truly committing to either.” Aspasia sighed, frustrated by the mere thought of every atrocity she and Kassandra had witnessed, “We fought so many wars, saw humanity commit the same mistakes over and over and over again… We got so tired of getting our hopes up each time it seems the World was marching towards peace, only to fall back to its pattern of war, famine, and greed.”

“I’m sorry.” Layla did sound contrite, “At least you had each other.”

“Sometimes.” The quizzical stare Layla gives her, prompts her to elaborate, “Twenty-five-hundred years is a long time to be with someone. We were together for many centuries, but sometimes we needed time apart… Sometimes she left, sometimes I left, but we always came back to each other. We were going through one of our separations when she came here. I left her this time…” Aspasia trails off and bits her lip in an effort to stop herself from revealing too much of her life together with Kassandra, but the regret in her voice was unmistakable.

Layla didn’t comment though she felt a need to comfort the woman that had meant so much to Kassandra. A woman that through Kassandra she had learned to love as well. A woman who had clearly been through so much in her long, near endless lifetime.

“She and I always wanted the same thing…” Aspasia whispered as she still ran her hands lovingly through Kassandra’s hair, “We just had different ways of getting it.”

Aspasia took a deep breath, trying to regain control over her emotions.

“She wanted freedom from the Isu through War.  A true Spartan, until the end.” Aspasia smiles and her dark eyes seemed to shine with unshed tears, “I wanted someone to unite all of humanity. Someone who could lead us and talk through the Isu and finally free us from their grasp, so humanity could flourish on its own. Someone who would fight if necessary but was wise enough to know that talking is the preferable choice.” Aspasia laughs bitterly, “Twenty-five hundred years and I never did find them…”

“She’s chaos. You’re order.” Layla breathlessly whispers, eyes alight with understanding.

Layla’s realization brought a small smile to Aspasia’s lips.

“Very good, Layla.” Despite herself, Layla feels herself blush under the praise of such a woman. Aspasia smiles knowingly before resuming talking, “She wants you to destroy every Isu artifact. She wants you to take the fight to them. Break the hold they have on people and finally let humanity make its own choices.”

“Why didn’t she do that herself?”

“Hasn’t she done enough?!” Aspasia snaps, Kiyoshi’s accusing tone making her grit her teeth in anger, only Kiyoshi’s training makes him not jump out of his seat at her impressive glare, “She’s done enough. She **_lost_** enough. For all of us.” 

Alannah rushes to snap back at Aspasia, but Layla’s shake of the head dissuades her from it. It seemed their leader was firmly on Aspasia’s side when it came to this. Victoria, however, was already in mission mode and started pacing around the room.

“We wouldn’t even know where to start! We have some ideas of where – **_when_** – we might find them of course, but…”

“You do what you’ve been doing. Combing through the remarkable people in history and finding that the remarkable seemingly impossible things in their lives always had some outside influence.” Aspasia smirks, the action turning her into the woman Layla had known in the _Animus_ , “You might even find some familiar faces along the way.”

The thought of seeing Kassandra again brought a smile to Layla’s face. She loved her as if she was one of her siblings.

Aspasia seeing the smile on Layla’s face, chuckles, “Ah yes, my Kassandra always had that effect on women.”

“ ** _Your_** Kassandra…” Layla can’t help but tease the woman, she had the feeling that Aspasia was the jealous type. And she had seen how many women Kassandra had been within the few short years she had witnessed in the _Animus_. She could only imagine how many the _mithios_ had been with over the centuries.

“I married her 32 times.” Aspasia snaps, frustrated by the implications in Layla’s voice.

Layla holds back a smirk… She **_was_** the jealous type. Aspasia glared at her, and even with the difference in height due to Aspasia being on the ground and Layla standing, the Assassin feels a chill running down her spine. The glare was fear-inducing, having been perfected over the centuries.

Aspasia however, quickly let up on the glare and with determined purpose spoke, “As for one of the Isu objects. Here,” Aspasia’s hand removed the inconspicuous armlet that had been on her arm, but she made sure to keep it in her hand. “Athena’s armlet. It was a pain to get it, so I hope you appreciate it.”

The people in the room where more surprised than it was perhaps advisable… After all, it made sense really, Aspasia’s lineage might have granted her some sort of gifts, but it wouldn’t have granted her immortal life. Still, for her to have one Isu artifact… They suddenly had two of them, right there in that cave. 

“That’s why she didn’t want to destroy them, you had one…” Victoria whispers, afraid to break the awed silence that had settled around them.

“I suspect that might have been part of it, yes.” Aspasia toys with the armlet in her hand. She finally lifts herself up, careful to lay Kassandra back gently on the ground. She lovingly runs her fingers through Kassandra’s hair one last time, kisses her on her forehead and then once, ever-so-softly, on her lips. “I’ll see you soon, my love.”

Layla smiles sadly at the scene. Such a love seemed impossible, complicated, all-consuming… Something that could have never been contained in a single lifetime.

As Aspasia walks towards her, Layla can’t help but notice how the tight purple dress shows off her lovely figure and how the sound of her high-heels mix with the sounds of the water falling all around them. Aspasia still had that one thing that made everyone in the room staring at her. That thing that made it impossible not to pay attention to her, that thing that made it impossible not to, at least, listen to her. Whether it was confidence or her lineage, or a mix of both, Layla didn’t know.

Once Aspasia reaches her, she immediately takes Layla’s hands into her own. Layla frowns as she feels a piece of a paper slide into her hand.

“Layla, listen to me.” Aspasia’s tone demanded attention, “She deserves to be with her family. Those are the coordinates to the place she has them buried. In there, you’ll also find a funeral rite for her. And here,” Aspasia hands her two drachmae coins. “she’ll need this for-…” Aspasia’s voice had grown increasingly soft and the tears had gathered in her eyes again, so much so that she couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

“For the ferryman?” Layla finishes the sentence for her. She twirls the coins in her hands and feels more than sees that its engraving is that of Spartan drachmae… Aspasia must have held on to it for the last twenty-five hundred years.

“Yes. Exactly.” Aspasia clears her throat, “Thank you.”  

“And you?” Victoria dares ask.

“Do what you will. I care not.” Aspasia tiredly answers, “I will give you the armlet. I have no need of it anymore.” She almost thrusts the piece in Layla’s hands. Aspasia then feels her strength wain, a grimace covers her face as a ripple of pain runs through her body, as she falls to the ground unable to keep herself upright she feels Layla rush to catch her in her arms. As she looks up at the person Kassandra had put her trust into, she can’t help but mutter, “We leave it to you, now.” She closes her eyes and as she feels a final breath of life leave her body, one last prayer enters her mind. _Gaia, mother of all, I greet you._

Layla was trembling as for the second time that day a person fell to their death in her arms. She swallowed the tears that had clogged her throat. It had happened so fast, she had barely had time to ask any questions. And while she hadn’t known Aspasia as well as she had known Kassandra it still pained her to see what she could consider an old friend die like this. In her arms. Barely a few hours after Kassandra.

_Order and Chaos cannot exist without the other. It creates an imbalance._

Maybe that was what Aspasia felt without Kassandra, an imbalance that could never be righted again without her other half. 

“Layla…” Victoria carefully whispers.

“We need to prepare to move both of them out of this place. We can figure out what to do with the objects after.”

The other three people in the room nod, ready to comply with what Layla had said, although they could see how much the whole situation pained their leader. Kiyoshi takes Aspasia into his arms and lays her beside her lover. Alannah, for her part, moves to Kassandra, trying to get her ready to be transported. As she adjusts Kassandra’s arms to lay beside her legs, she feels something in Kassandra’s pantsuit.

“There’s something in her pocket!” Alannah exclaims, as she rummages her way through the pantsuit’s pocket she pulls out two coins and a piece of paper, “It’s two Athenian drachmae, and some paper.”

“What does it say?” Layla whispers, afraid of whatever else this day might bring.

“ _’For Aspasia… A place next to me awaits you. Please, when you feel it’s time and if you so wish, join me. Love always, K.’_ ”, Alannah choked up a little at the end, “She saved a spot for her?”

It was a bittersweet feeling to see this love coming to such a gruesome end, to see the devotion and trust they had for each other, even after death. Silence reigned over the four people left in the room. A moment to honor both the love that these women had for one another, as well as the remarkable women they had been.

“We’ll bury them together. It’s clearly what they wanted.” Victoria breaks the silence, “I’ll make some calls. Get everything ready…” As she passes Layla, she lays a comforting hand on her shoulder, and in a kind, careful voice asks her, “Do you need anything?”

“No, Doc. Thanks,” Layla says mutedly, she then raises her dark eyes to lock into the doctor’s soft blue. When she notices that they’d been staring in each other’s eyes for a while now, she stumbles her words, and a blush rises in her cheeks, “W-We… I mean we need to make sure we do everything right.”

“Right.” Victoria nods, a light blush also covering her cheeks, “Kiyoshi, come with me.” The man nods and follows the doctor out of the room.

Alannah comes to stand beside Layla and as soon as Victoria and Kiyoshi are out of earshot she meaningfully eyes Layla before speaking.

“You might not have as long as these two… Why not give it a shot, Layla?”

“She’s…” Layla trails off, unsure how to characterize the woman that had colonized her thoughts.

“And you’re…” Alannah teasingly trails off as well, “She likes you. You like her. Nothing else matters.”

“Maybe.” Layla spares one last look at Aspasia and Kassandra, laying side-by-side after everything they’d been through both together and apart, “Maybe.”

**Author's Note:**

> I always wondered why the pyramid responded to Aspasia if it only responded to certain bloodlines… So, I made her a very light hybrid.  
> Hey, psst @ubisoft I want this.  
> Make it happen.  
> Make Kassandra not be alone for 2500 years.


End file.
